Thermaltake Tai-Chi System Case Review @ X-bit labs

Vikingod · Jan 18, 2006, 09:02 AM

Today we are going to take a closer look at a very interesting system case from Thermaltake with pre-installed water-cooling system, which features extravagant and demanding image, boasts quiet operation, efficient internal cooling and the whole bunch of other attractive features.
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Read More / Source: X-bit labs

grog · Jan 22, 2006, 06:35 PM

Great review.
The review was not out when I decided on this case but the other reviews I found sold me on this case so much so I bought two of them!

I did a lot of checking on what case I wanted for my new system.

Actually building two systems, one for me and one for my wife.

The Thermaltake Tai-Chi VB5001SNA always came out on top.

I looked at the Lian Li cases but there were small problems with each one I looked at. One would have great cooling but would have space problems with larger power-supplies. One would allow my power-supply to fit but the cooling was not as good.

The "Tai-Chi" is like a big heat sink and the cooling is great. Add the liquid cooling and this thing is just what I wanted. The only issue for me was the size of this monster. I have plenty of room to place the case but I have to move some items for my wife's setup to work.

I finished the order last week and the system components are shown as shipped so I should have two Tai-Chi Liquid based cases here in the next few days.

Some have said this was just to costly a case. At $429.99 at NewEgg for the Liquid cooled version it might seem high. But when you consider the cost of built in liquid cooling it is really not bad at all.

The non-liquid version is $369.00 at NewEgg but....ZipZoomFly has this case on sale for $249.99 after $50.00 rebate. So for those who want to ride on air this is one hell of a price for this case.

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Produc...uctCode=371248

A great case is ofter overlooked when buying a system but lets look at the cost effect.

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Dual Core $787.00. The $429.99 Tai-Chi with liquid cooling is $357.01 less than the CPU.

Video: All-in-Wonder® X1800 XL 256MB PCI Express® $429.00. The $429.99 Tai-Chi with liquid cooling is just $0.99 more than my video card.

New system specs
* Monitor: Dell UltraSharp 2405FPW 24" LCD
* Motherboard: ASUS A8R-MVP ATX AMD CrossFire Motherboard
* CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Dual Core
* Memory: CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) TWINX2048-3200C2PRO
* Video: All-in-Wonder® X1800 XL 256MB PCI Express®
* ATI HDTV Wonder Remote Control Edition PCI TV Tuner
* Sound: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Elite Pro Sound Card
* Ethernet: Onboard Marvell 88E8001 10/100/1000Base-T Gigabit
* Hard Disk-1&2: Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 ST3300622AS 300GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s x 2 (total 600GB) RAID-0
* Hard Disk-3: Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 ST3160812A 160GB 7200 RPM IDE Ultra ATA100
* DVD-R/RW: SONY White IDE DVD Burner Model DRU810A
* DVD-R/RW: SONY Silver USB 2.0/i.LINK External DVD Burner Model DRX810UL
* CASE: Thermaltake Tai-Chi VB5001SNA Black/ Silver Computer Case with liquid cooling
* LCD-TEMP: AeroCool GateWatch-SV Silver GateWatch with LCD display
* PSU: PC Power & Cooling 510 SLI-PFC 510W
* UPS: APC Back-UPS XS 1000 UPS, 1000 VA, 600 Watts
* OS: Microsoft Windows XP Media Center 2005
* OS: Microsoft Windows XP Professional With SP2
* OS: Microsoft Windows XP Professional X64 Edition 1
* OS: Gentoo AMD64
* Speakers: Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 5.1

Greg

Jan 18, 2006, 09:02 AM	#1
Vikingod Int'l Fish Liaison Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: By the light of lamp I sit and type... Posts: 16,149 Rep Power: 85 System Specs	Thermaltake Tai-Chi System Case Review @ X-bit labs Today we are going to take a closer look at a very interesting system case from Thermaltake with pre-installed water-cooling system, which features extravagant and demanding image, boasts quiet operation, efficient internal cooling and the whole bunch of other attractive features. _________ Read More / Source: X-bit labs __________________ *How You Can Help DriverHeaven By Using Digg*

Jan 22, 2006, 06:35 PM	#2
grog Roxy Music Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 1,064 Rep Power: 52 System Specs	Great review. The review was not out when I decided on this case but the other reviews I found sold me on this case so much so I bought two of them! I did a lot of checking on what case I wanted for my new system. Actually building two systems, one for me and one for my wife. The Thermaltake Tai-Chi VB5001SNA always came out on top. I looked at the Lian Li cases but there were small problems with each one I looked at. One would have great cooling but would have space problems with larger power-supplies. One would allow my power-supply to fit but the cooling was not as good. The "Tai-Chi" is like a big heat sink and the cooling is great. Add the liquid cooling and this thing is just what I wanted. The only issue for me was the size of this monster. I have plenty of room to place the case but I have to move some items for my wife's setup to work. I finished the order last week and the system components are shown as shipped so I should have two Tai-Chi Liquid based cases here in the next few days. Some have said this was just to costly a case. At $429.99 at NewEgg for the Liquid cooled version it might seem high. But when you consider the cost of built in liquid cooling it is really not bad at all. The non-liquid version is $369.00 at NewEgg but....ZipZoomFly has this case on sale for $249.99 after $50.00 rebate. So for those who want to ride on air this is one hell of a price for this case. http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Produc...uctCode=371248 A great case is ofter overlooked when buying a system but lets look at the cost effect. CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Dual Core $787.00. The $429.99 Tai-Chi with liquid cooling is $357.01 less than the CPU. Video: All-in-Wonder® X1800 XL 256MB PCI Express® $429.00. The $429.99 Tai-Chi with liquid cooling is just $0.99 more than my video card. New system specs * Monitor: Dell UltraSharp 2405FPW 24" LCD * Motherboard: ASUS A8R-MVP ATX AMD CrossFire Motherboard * CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Dual Core * Memory: CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) TWINX2048-3200C2PRO * Video: All-in-Wonder® X1800 XL 256MB PCI Express® * ATI HDTV Wonder Remote Control Edition PCI TV Tuner * Sound: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Elite Pro Sound Card * Ethernet: Onboard Marvell 88E8001 10/100/1000Base-T Gigabit * Hard Disk-1&2: Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 ST3300622AS 300GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s x 2 (total 600GB) RAID-0 * Hard Disk-3: Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 ST3160812A 160GB 7200 RPM IDE Ultra ATA100 * DVD-R/RW: SONY White IDE DVD Burner Model DRU810A * DVD-R/RW: SONY Silver USB 2.0/i.LINK External DVD Burner Model DRX810UL * CASE: Thermaltake Tai-Chi VB5001SNA Black/ Silver Computer Case with liquid cooling * LCD-TEMP: AeroCool GateWatch-SV Silver GateWatch with LCD display * PSU: PC Power & Cooling 510 SLI-PFC 510W * UPS: APC Back-UPS XS 1000 UPS, 1000 VA, 600 Watts * OS: Microsoft Windows XP Media Center 2005 * OS: Microsoft Windows XP Professional With SP2 * OS: Microsoft Windows XP Professional X64 Edition 1 * OS: Gentoo AMD64 * Speakers: Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 5.1 Greg __________________ Dell UltraSharp 2405FPW 24" LCD Philips 47" 1080p 47pfl7422d/37 LCD ASUS M3A32-MVP Deluxe/WiFi BIOS 1406, AMD Phenom 9600 Agena 2.3GHz, G.SKILL 8GB(4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 (PC2 6400) ASUS EAH4850 TOP/HTDI/512M PCI Express 2.0 Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro Sound Card, 1TB Hard Disk storage Thermaltake Tai-Chi VB5001SNA Black/ Silver Computer Case with liquid cooling AeroCool GateWatch-SV Silver GateWatch with LCD display, PC Power & Cooling 510 SLI-PFC 510W APC Back-UPS XS 1000 UPS, 1000 VA, 600 Watts Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64-bit VM's (Fedora, RHEL4..etc) Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 5.1